ABSTRACT

Most people who choose to study moral philosophy perhaps do so in the hope that they will acquire a better understanding of what being moral is all about. Just as those who attend history of art courses hope to increase their understanding of what those who appreciate, judge, and criticize art are doing rather than to become artists themselves, so students of moral philosophy want to get inside the business of moral thinking and understand what makes a sound moral argument, rather than to improve themselves morally. They do not necessarily expect to learn all the answers to moral questions or to become more adept at making moral judgements. But they do expect to understand what morality is, just as those who study law, engineering, or the Roman Empire expect to come to grips with those fields and to appreciate the problems peculiar to them and the appropriate procedures for dealing with them.